


The Most Selfish Man

by inkvoices



Series: Licorice Allsorts [28]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Children of Earth Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2011-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-09 15:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3254015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkvoices/pseuds/inkvoices
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Children of Earth mini AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Selfish Man

Ianto is alive when they come searching for bodies in Thames House. He doesn’t move until they lift Jack – one man with hands under his upper arms and another getting a hold under his knees – and then he follows them down the stairs. He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t respond to suggestions or orders, he just follows them down the stairs to the largest room where he sits on the floor and leans back against the wall, tucking his knees up to his chin.

People mutter about shock and miracles. Someone drapes a red blanket around his shoulders.

He’s the only live body in the room with a red blanket. The rest are laid out in rows, ever so neatly, like a war cemetery or the new filing cabinets Ianto bought for the Archives a few weeks ago. Every single one of them still and lifeless, even the one Ianto never takes his eyes off.

“He hasn’t woken up yet then?” says Gwen quietly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

When Ianto doesn’t reply she adjusts his blanket, pats his shoulder, and then arranges for (or lies to) the authorities to let them leave with Jack’s body – Rhys wheeling him out on a trolley, Gwen helping him manhandle Jack onto the backseat, and Ianto following.

“What’s up with him then?” says Rhys, watching Ianto as they squeeze into the car. “Don’t worry, mate,” he continues without waiting for any kind of answer, “Jack’ll be fine, yeah? He’ll be up and about in a bit.”

Ianto just sits in the backseat, Jack’s head resting in his lap and a red blanket around his shoulders.

“It doesn’t usually take this long,” Gwen mutters to her husband as she slides into the front passenger seat. “Only when something’s taken a lot out of him, but this. I dunno.” She leans towards him and lowers her voice further still, but Ianto can still hear her when she says, softly, “And Ianto still alive when Jack isn’t? Jack must have done something. Probably something stupid.”

“Jack being stupid?” Rhys turns the key in the ignition. “Now there’s a surprise.”

_“Jones, Ianto Jones,” says Jack, his tear-damp face against Ianto’s. “More than a blip in time.”_

_He pulls back and his face swims into view, hovering overhead._

_“I am the most selfish man alive, did you know that?”_

_Then Jack kisses him._

**Author's Note:**

> for the comment_fic prompt _Jack/Ianto, Ianto does die in Thames House, however Jack, using the power of the Bad Wolf, makes Ianto immortal and a fixed point in time like him._


End file.
